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2015 Big 12 Football Betting Preview

The TCU Horned Frogs and Baylor Bears split the Big 12 championship in 2014 and are the opening favorites to battle for the crown again in 2015 at online sportsbook 5Dimes.

Both teams narrowly missed out on the opportunity to get into last year’s four-team College Football Playoff field when the Ohio State Buckeyes won the Big Ten Championship Game, and each of them will do their best to make it this year, starting with a second consecutive conference title.

TCU suffered only one loss last season, blowing a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter of a 61-58 road loss to Baylor. The Horned Frogs finished 12-1 after crushing the Ole Miss Rebels 42-3 in the Peach Bowl, and they figure to be just as good if not better this year as the 2/1 favorite to win the Big 12 while the Bears are right behind them at 9/4 at 5Dimes.

Baylor (11-2 in 2014) was the top-scoring team in the country last season, averaging 48.2 points per game, but the team will be without starting quarterback Bryce Petty, who used up his eligibility after winning Big 12 titles in 2013 and 2014. Petty previously served as the backup to Robert Griffin III and Nick Florence in his first two seasons.

The loss of Petty makes TCU the slight favorite to win the Big 12 this year, although the return of a leading Heisman Trophy candidate also helps a lot. Trevone Boykin led the nation’s second-highest scoring offense (46.5 ppg) last season as a junior for the Horned Frogs, throwing for 3,901 yards and 33 touchdowns and running for 707 and eight more scores.

The Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys are also both in the mix to win the Big 12 in 2015, each at 5/1 odds at 5Dimes. The Sooners were a major disappointment in 2014 as the preseason pick to win the conference title, ending up with an 8-5 record following a 40-6 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

The Cowboys beat Oklahoma 38-35 in overtime in their annual intrastate rivalry game at the end of the regular season and topped off the campaign with a 30-22 victory against the Washington Huskies in the Cactus Bowl. That win over the Sooners earned Oklahoma State the bowl bid after the school suffered through a five-game losing streak.

Baylor edged out three other teams to win the Big 12 conference title last season, but it's Oklahoma that sits as the favorite on the Big 12 championship odds at the sportsbooks heading into the 2014 campaign.

Baylor was 8-1 in Big 12 play last season, with each of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas going 7-2 in a three-way tie for second.

It's the Sooners, however, that are sitting as the 4/5 favorites on the odds to win the Big 12 championship at Bovada, with the Bears second on those NCAA football odds at 5/2.

Texas is then at 15/2 at Bovada on their Big 12 championship odds, with Oklahoma State at 12/1 and Kansas State at 10/1, and TCU rounding out that second tier of contenders at 12/1. Kansas State went 5-4 in Big 12 action last season, while TCU was an ugly 2-7.

Texas Tech (20/1), West Virginia (66/1), Iowa State (100/1), and Kansas (100/1) round out the odds to win the Big 12 championship at Bovada. The Jayhawks found themselves in the basement of the Big 12 last season, winning just one of their nine conference matchups.

Kansas State stunned the entire college football world with a run all the way to the Big 12 championship last season. Looking at the 2013 future odds for the Big 12 conference, this season could be a four or five team battle all season long for the 2013 title.

The Longhorns are looking for bigger and better things this season after going 9-4 straight-up in 2012 that included a disappointing 5-4 SU record in conference play. They went just 6-7 against the spread overall and 2-4 ATS at home. The total stayed UNDER in four of those six home games.

This could be the team to watch in the Big 12 with a good majority of their starters back from last year. The Cowboys went 8-5 SU (7-5 ATS) overall and 5-4 SU in the conference. They were a profitable 6-1 ATS at home with the total going OVER in five of those games.

Bob Stoops faces a challenging season with a number of new faces on both sides of the ball. Last season the Sooners went 8-1 SU in the conference but a loss to Kansas State cost them the title. They were 6-7 ATS.

The Wildcats will have a number of holes to fill on an offense that averaged 38.8 points a game. They will also have an incredibly difficult time duplicating an overall record of 11-2 SU and 9-3-1 ATS. The total went OVER in six of their seven home games.

As another newcomer to the conference in 2012, the Mountaineers stumbled to a 4-5 SU record in Big 12 play. They went 7-6 SU overall and 5-8 ATS. West Virginia did cover in three of their final four games.

The Bears averaged 44.5 points a game last season on their way to an 8-5 SU (9-4 ATS) record last season. The problem was a defense that gave-up 37.2 points, which led to eight of 12 games going OVER the total.

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